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| BizTEC'05 Kickoff Event |
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Time: |
Wednesday, March 9th, 16:00-18:30 |
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Place: |
Taub Building, Auditorium 1, Technion |
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Speaker: |
Dr. Yossi Vardi (Mirabilis - ICQ) |
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Subject: |
Business Opportunity Recognition - Art, Science or Luck? |
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| Agenda: |
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15:45: |
Gathering & Registration |
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16:00: |
Opening |
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- Prof. Moshe Eizenberg, Technion VP Research |
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- Prof. Uzi DeHaan, Academic Director BizTEC'05 |
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- Uzia Galil, Uzia Initiatives and Management, Ltd. |
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- Dr. Ed Mlavsky, Gemini Israel Funds |
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16:30: |
Introducing BizTEC'05 |
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17:00: |
Break - Networking Time |
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17:20: |
Business Opportunity Recognition |
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Dr. Yossi Vardi |
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18:00: |
BizTEC'05 Q&A |
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18:30: |
Closing |
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Dr. Yossi Vardi
Dr. Yossi Vardi is one of Israel’s early entrepreneurs, who, for over 30 years, co-founded or
invested in over 40 high-tech companies.
He was the founding investor and chairman of Mirabilis Ltd., the creator of ICQ, first instant messaging
on the internet and one of the most successful Internet startups of all times, with over 150 million
registered users. The company was acquired by AOL, to whom Dr Vardi continues to serve as an advisor.
Dr. Vardi has had an extensive government career, serving, among other duties, as the
Director General of the Ministry of Development and the Ministry of Energy, the chairman of the
Israeli National Oil Company, and the chairman of the state’s largest natural resources
company – Israel Chemicals.
He also served on the boards of numerous major state and private corporations boards including
the Advisory Board of the Central Bank of Israel, the national Electric Company, Bezeq, Scitex,
Israel Refineries, and many others.
Dr. Vardi participated in the peace negotiations with Jordan, Egypt, Syria,
and the Palestinian Authority. He is the Chairman of the Board of the Jerusalem Foundation and
a board member of numerous other organizations.
A graduate of the Technion, he earned his D.Sc with an award-winning thesis,
M.Sc with distinction in operation research,
and B.Sc (summa cum laude) in industrial management engineering.
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Summary of the meeting:
 More then 400 students alumni faculty and industry leaders gathered last week in the Technion for the BizTEC’05, the fist student led entrepreneurial competition, kickoff event. The idea comes from the US where it is common to hold this kind of competition in leading universities such as MIT, Berkeley and Harvard.
 According to statistics from the TechIA Forum (which was set up three years ago in order to bring Technion graduate students closer to the Israeli business community and venture capital funds), the companies that won these competitions in the past today are valued at $10.5 billion and have contributed greatly to the US economy.
The opening ceremony’s keynote address was given by Israeli entrepreneur Dr. Yossi Vardi. Also speaking was the Vice President for Research at the Technion, Prof. Moshe Eizenberg; the head of the Technion’s Entrepreneurial Center, Prof. Uzi de Haan; the founder and former president of Elron, Uzia Galil; and the founding chair and partner in the venture capital fund Gemini, Dr. Ed Mlavsky.
 Three monetary prizes will be awarded to the winning plans. First prize will be NIS 50,000, second prize NIS 30,000 and third prize NIS 20,000. The TechIA Forum raised the prize money from various Hi-Tech companies in Israel, venture capital funds, patent offices and technological incubators.
“Beyond the monetary sums to be awarded to the winners, all contest participants will acquire vast experience and will benefit from extraordinary exposure to potential investors of all kinds who are supporting this event,” said Yaki Donitz, founder and executive director of A-I Research and Development and a member of the TechIA Forum’s board of directors.
 The competition will receive business plan abstracts. Ten plans will be chosen for the final round and these will be asked to write full business plans. At this stage, the groups will be given a mentor – a senior professional from hi-tech and industry.
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